In think that most children don't stop believing in Father Christmas at 5 years old?

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On Mumsnet, there seems to be a large contingent of posters who claim that children over the age of 5 don't believe in Santa and if they do believe then they shouldn't. I have never met a 5 year old who didn't wholeheartedly believe in Santa, elves, everything. I think peak believing years are actually age 4 to 8. It's actually sad because if a child doesn't believe in Santa at 5 then they never really have. I wasn't a particularly naive child but I was 10 when I worked it out. My ds was around 9 I think. To me believing up to age 10 or so is entirely the norm -vor am in the minority in thinking that ?

Yep this.

Of course most 5 yos wholeheartedly believe.

Sometimes there’s a contingent on MN that expects and even wants children to grow up in a flash.

I reckon 8-10 is the usual age to work it out. My 8 yo ds is sort of holding on to some threads of belief but is very questioning of the whole thing.

Think my now 14 yo had worked it out by around that age - I can’t really remember but I remember taking to her about her knowing and ds still believing when she was 10

My mother was a primary school teacher and said the 8/9 year olds had lots of questions then all the questions stopped the following year as they wanted to keep believing (or pretended to their parents that they did anyway!)

My 10 year old said to me today (as we were decorating the tree) that he doesn't want to grow up.

He is starting to realise the magic isn't real. He wants to believe but it makes me sad that the childhood dream is almost over .

At least.it lasted this long, I guess.

Hats off to the parents who are supportive of keeping the magic alive. Five is still very young and if a ten year old still believes, so what? They aren't going to tell their friends, they'll just keep the belief to themselves. Santa is no less real than the other very famous Christmas story anyhow.

My eldest was 10 and cried when she found out. My youngest is 10 and I think this is going to be the last magical year 😢

I didn't realise it was a crime to ask questions that I am genuinely interested in knowing the answer to by hearing the experiences of other parents. I have never ever checked another person's history (or my own) until now. Most of my threads dating back a few years are asking advice about covid or just general advice. I can't see one about bedtimes. Yours I glanced at and your threads range from being angry at Sainsbury's over a perceived slight through to whether MN thinks it's okay for you to date a guy years younger than you...You really don't have to comment on a thread if you're not interested.

I didn't realise it was a crime to ask questions 😂

but your other threads and indeed this one is underpinned with a very strong whiff of judgement!

Never had the conversation.
Offspring is 20 😁

I love it. It's joyous and fun.

Mibe appeared to still believe at 10 years old. I got really worried they would head off to secondary still claiming Santa existed. We had a difficult conversation in which it was eventually revealed that they'd known since they were nine but thought I still believed and didn't want to spoil Christmas for me. Not sure of their logic on that (how could I not know it was me filling the stockings ?) but it was very cute.

Okay👍

Aw, that's sweet. I think a lot of kids probably hedge their bets just in case!

It's actually sad because if a child doesn't believe in Santa at 5 then they never really have

I don't remember ever believing in Santa. Why is that sad? Working out that Santa is a myth didn't harm me in any way.

I taught 7/8 year olds and it was a very rare one who still believed. Both DS's knew by age 7 from the playground.

I never believed in Santa. Poor street wise kids don't.

10 is not great. It's not ideal to be that naïve in general - makes life and school harder. But 5 - yeah, they mostly believe anything they are told at that age.

My 5 year old firmly believes. 7 year old DD still believes but is asking a few questions so I think this year may be the last year for her.

I suspect my nine year old knows but he plays along and I said the magic will exist as long as he believes (or pretends to 🤭). My six year old is on the fence. I suspect he’ll be saying it’s nonsense far sooner that my older child HOWEVER we all enjoys the elves and the activities and the magic and it makes for a lot of fun. So on we go.

I believed at 11, technically I was 'gifted' as opposed to completely neurotypical but I'm pretty sure that's not what you meant. Tbh, I'm not quite sure why you'd find an 11 year old believing in something that they are consistently presented with 'evidence' of so unbelievable when we live in a world where the majority of grown adults believe in a deity of some kind, despite a complete absence of evidence.

I worked it out around age 7 because I found out that my mum hid the presents "from Santa" in a closet at my grandma's house. I kept up the pretense of believing until I was 10 though, because it seemed important to my parents

There's also a sort of self congratulatory smugness about some posters if their child stopped believing earlier as if it's because they're brighter and more on the ball. My eldest is incredibly academic and definitely believed until he was 9 (I literally saw the shock on his face when he figured it out - there was no way he had an inclining before that). My youngest is less traditionally bright but worked it out at about 7 (she wasn't told by her older brother). My eldest just loved it more so suspended his disbelief for longer. I wouldn't have artificially continued the belief once they got to the stage of figuring it out and confronting me with it but there would definitely have been no benefit of telling either of them earlier. They loved it, it was pure childhood innocent magic.

I think around 7 is the average age for realising it’s a story.

70s child here I think that’s makes a difference 11 my last year then I went along with for the parents but of course once 13 the magic died. Today I make my own magic.

I'd say 9 years, year 5. I got one more year of belief from youngest when he got a main present from Father Christmas that he knew I wouldn't spend the money.

Spend the money on I mean. Still tells the story now he's a teenager.